Sometimes God Meets Us In The Walmart Parking Lot
As my car idles in the Walmart parking lot in the snowy early morning hours of a cold January Saturday, I sit in the driver’s seat, spiritually bankrupt and crying. I have broken beneath the weight of feeling weakened by years of insecurity and the pain of unworthiness. I am crumbling beneath the sandy foundation of the unrealistic expectations I put on myself and my surroundings. Expectations I realize no single, earthly individual could ever live up to. My attempts to do more in order to gain more out of life are falling short. “Given out”, wallowing in my feelings of insignificance within the role of charitable “do gooder”, God draws me to His side. He gently shuts my mouth and presses hard on the stop button of the vicious tape recorder in my mind. It was there that He starts over from the beginning, re-teaching me who I really am.The King, in His everlasting magnificent regal royalty, can take up residence in every sphere of our heart. Not just in part, but in whole. I have discovered, though, the fulfillment of that dream hinges on us living for the King from the inside out. It comes when we consent and allow Jesus to situate Himself so far down in our bone marrow that His presence and grace work past the highs and lows of relationships, the unsettling nature of change, the deafening echo of deep loss, the vicious cycle of one ordinary day after another, the ins and outs of marriage, and the ups and downs of raising children. I have seen and can testify that when we surrender to God’s ways, freely opening our hearts as an offering to Him, we step into our authority and position as the royal heir to the Throne of Grace, dreams are fulfilled, and a better life is ignited.The cold winter winds swirl through my hair as I approach the automatic doors of Walmart. I raise my prayers as twirling whispers up to Heaven, and I plead for the Father to take me up in a whimsical romance. I plead for a deeper relationship than I have ever known. And as I whisk through the doors, the Holy Spirit whispers with a soft, warm voice. “Yes, my daughter, I will take you on an adventure. It will be like no other adventure or fairy tale you have seen or experienced. It will be a real-life, gritty, sleeves rolled up, persuaded, convinced, situated, decidedly courageous, and gloriously beautiful tale of adventure and overcoming and victory. And you, my precious one, my dear daughter, will be caught up as a beauty of God.”As I weigh the difference between the crusty French baguette and the ciabatta, I am more. Decidedly different, saved and radiant; I am more royal than when I walked in. A seed was planted. A voice was heard. Suddenly there was growth within my soul that desired to become something more, something deeper. A bright butterfly of awakening to the Father’s love and pursuit for His daughter is breaking through the hard-cracked cocoon of a Bible beating, churchgoing, caterpillar that had spent a lifetime learning about God. The wisdom of my parking lot revelation is becoming clear. God wants me to receive my position and the grand adventure of being His daughter. He wants to showcase love to His child; I just need to be positioned to receive it. I’ll finish gathering groceries for my slumbering troops. I’ll drive home and love, serve, and give with more because I have swallowed deep and long the Spirit of the Lord, and his moving has stirred a change in my heart. On this ordinary calendar day, while the snow drifts high on the roadsides, my Lord has received my surrender and is reaching low to raise me and lift my head to new horizons. I may not have left my physical location in any way, but my caterpillar heart has submitted to the creation process of becoming all glorious within, and I am assured to emerge as a beautiful butterfly.Dear Beloved Father, please heal every wrong concept of the King that we have. Every destructive thought or whisper that we have believed about ourselves, we ask grace and mercy to wash over our desperately sick interpretation of Christ and the events of our lives. In the Name of Jesus, show us why we are here and how you really see us, as beautiful daughters becoming all glorious within. Regardless of what we’ve done or believed, we pray that you will open the windows of Heaven to bring right perspective to our hearts and wisdom to the revelation of authentic beauty. In Jesus’ Mighty Name we pray, Amen.*excerpt from "A Glorious Becoming"...Order your copy in time for Christmas here - http://caritrotter.com/store/a-glorious-becoming/
